Art professor gets international prize

Digital art Assistant Professor Miho Aoki won the grand prize in the Digital Creation Awards competition sponsored by the Japanese company Toray Industries.

The award, which comes with a $10,000 cash prize, was won with Aoki's "Party" series of five digital pictures.

The images are themed for the holidays and consist of pairs of various cleverly modified holiday trappings, including instruments, and wine and sake bottles, made to look like animals.

In June Aoki will travel to Japan to accept the award.

She also produces computer animations and is a joint faculty member at UAF's Arctic Region Supercomputing Center.

Aoki has an MFA from Ohio State University and has been teaching digital arts classes at UAF since 2001.

Refugee All Stars come to Fairbanks

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars will perform in the Hering Auditorium on Saturday, June 16.

The group formed in a refugee camp when many inhabitants were displaced by a violent civil war, which ravaged the diamond-rich nation for a decade.

In December 2006 the Afrobeat/Reggae group made an appearance on "Oprah" and has traveled the world performing on five continents in an attempt to share their stories and spread peace.

The performance is at 8 p.m. and is $20 for students and $30 general admission.